So, having started my racing games addiction from the days of Revs on the BBC B back in the 80's (I'm not that old honestly) and played most games up to present day, certain games did things better than others. If you were to take those best bits, what would they be and from what game? I'll get the ball rolling,

Graphics: Has to be Pcars at the moment. I do believe it has taken things to a new level in terms of presentation, detail and effects. The tracks look excellent with so much detail. The cars look brilliant and the immersion factor is superb. Forza 5 is good and a close second but Pcars tips it for me.

Engine Sound: Dare I say it, Forza for me is the best. They have nailed the sounds brilliantly to add so much character and immersion. I can't vouch for all the cars being accurate but some that I know, for example the Nissan 350z are spot on. I would like to say Pcars is very good as is IRacing but Forza tips it for me.

Other Sounds: Something that always impressed me were some of the ambient sounds in F1 Challenge 99-02. The air horns in the crowd, the pit lane sounder as you enter the pits, the crowd noises and all the other little sound details they included. Really helped add atmosphere. Race 07 also had some great incar sounds, giving the impression stones, marbles and debris is hitting the car. Made the car feel like it was on a physical track. GTR2 also has the track side commentary going that you occasionally here.

Weather: Difficult one this as so many games have added something to the mix. NASCAR 2003 really added air and track temps as a big factor on car handling. Rfactor 2 has great cloud formation, GTR2 has great wet weather simulation where the drying line and wet parts of the track really do affect tyre temps. I've had so many great races trying to cool my wet tyres on the wet parts of the track as a drying line appears. Then how can we forget GP4 which was just brilliant in all departments and one of the first to really make wet weather work effectively. Now we have Pcars and graphically for me it's the best. The rain looks superb and does give an excellent visual impression of driving in the wet. I'm not sure yet if it's quite as immersive or physically detailed as GTR2 but it's better visually.

Tyres: A lot of debate about what's right, what's wrong, too much grip, too little grip etc. I can only go with my experience of doing many track days over the years and even that is on road tyres. I am also still undecided. I felt GTR2 at one point was very good, that was until I took my Lotus Elise around Brands and realised it had so much more grip than the virtual game. Even with hot tyres, GTR2 was nowhere near as grippy. I also think a lot of games overdo the cold tyres effect, giving the impression of driving on ice. Rfactor 2 does this as does NASCAR 2003. NASCAR 2003 on the other hand I felt was very good at simulating tyre wear and tyre management. The car really did change as the tyres wore down. On the flip side to this, Pcars feels a little too grippy. I would like just a little more movement in the car when pushed too the limit but it does feel closer to reality. It's probably closest to most for me. I actually don't mind IRacing although it still has that slippy feel. Live for Speed feels very natural and Assetto Corsa I really can't work out. Some days it's feels right and other days it doesn't even feel like it has tyre physics. As I say, I'm still undecided but there are certain elements from each game which are strong and weak.

Track Detail: Again, going back to F1 Challenge, I loved how you had a grid of people around your car, including the lollipop girl as you sat on the grid. Even better is you could drive round to the grid. Again, it added so much immersion. GP4 had animated marshals that would run out to a broken down car and push it away. Simply brilliant. Also, I think GTR2, GP4 and Codies F1 games have pit crews that run out of the garages if their car is coming in. Looks brilliant as you drive down the pit lane seeing mechanics running out setting up for a pit stop. I must also mention how great the trackside objects are in Pcars and Forza 5. Seeing service trucks, animated crowds with flags, helicopters, team transporters parked up along side the track just adds to the being there feeling. Finally, GT6 has to get a mention for the fireworks going off as you drive around Le Mans at night. Adds so much atmosphere.

I'm sure there are many other little things I've missed but it would be good to hear what things other games did that you really liked.

What's my perfect racing game? If you ask me tomorrow, I'd say this one as after a month of playing it on the Xbox one, I'm about to play it on the computer I built yesterday. It should work well as today I tried Dirt Rally on ultra settings and it averaged 120fps 96 min and 140 max. PCars is a bit more graphics hungry though I would imagine. I'm actually playing on a 42inch plasma so I have V-sync on.

That aside my perfect driving game would be: the sounds of Assetto corsa, the graphics of Project cars and the cars and tracks of TOCA.

Baron_Greenback

18-06-2015, 21:22

I love the concept Eden spectacularly failed to deliver thrice; Test Drive Unlimited one & two, and then after a re-name/re-brand, The Crew. The concept of open world racer is a one I hope someone else will pick up and run with, but competently.

Open world with the opportunity to drive to your favourite tracks.

Erm, that's all I got.
Basically TDU, but with better physics, better graphics, recorded engine sounds and without a stupid corny story and cutscenes. (I'd love to slap Tess Wintory from TDU2)

OrenIshii BE

19-06-2015, 05:49

My perfect race game?
on xbox,

would be pCars with
- twice the tracks (at least)
- all racing genres with full car roster like WEC, DTM, LeMans Series, BTCC, WTCC, F1 etc
- graphics to be on par with whats possible on PC, 4K and perhaps beyond.
- a better Damage model, like rubbing against tires should be giving blown tires, scraping bodypanels denting and scratch realisticly. etc.
- Full grids, offline and online. Meaning same amount of cars like they do in real life events.
- AI, more human like

Ryno917

19-06-2015, 20:43

My perfect game?

Well, first-off I'd have the dynamic weather and lighting from pCARS. That's an absolute must. I'd have the attention to detail of pCARS, as well.

I'd have an in-depth career mode, taking the cross-discipline progression from pCARS, and adding custom driver helmets and gloves, sponsorship awards (either to yourself as a driver, or to your team). You would have different helmets for different disciplines, as well (open faced in rally, streamlined in open wheel, etc). Drive suits would be determined by the team, as would the livery. Your lower level team would have the option to move up in tiers with you, as well, so you could carry relationships throughout your career. The career would absolutely have to cover Touring, GT, Prototype and open wheel racing to begin with. It could be seamlessly expanded to other disciplines down the line.

Graphically it would be a marriage between pCARS and DriveClub.

All of the cars would be designed by me, as would the tracks. I love me some fictional, but realistic content.

I could go into so, so much more detail on so many different aspects...

Roger Prynne

19-06-2015, 21:19

and adding custom driver helmets and gloves
That's one thing I have never even noticed as I'm too busy driving.

wraithsrike

20-06-2015, 13:36

A mix of PCars Forza 4, forza has more depth, Pcars is more motorsport and has far better physics.

Neil Bateman

20-06-2015, 13:51

My perfect game, Project Cars with all the problems fixed and all the planned future content( whatever that ends up being)installed.

graveltrap

20-06-2015, 19:28

PGR2 remastered for current generation consoles, with the ultra hardcore platinum challenge left intact!

I know it's an arcade racer, but it was racing gameplay at its very best :)

B FIFE22

21-06-2015, 05:14

I'd have to have 2.

1. A mix between PCars and Forza, where you have the depth and customization of Forza but also a bigger Motorsport/Racing focus of PCars. With Forza's polish of course.

I'm with you Neil......... the add some realism to the damage to top it off.

MartinMWWebb

24-06-2015, 12:19

One game I've found hard to top in terms of game play & story is GRID 1, it bought back the days of the TOCA series on PS1 for me which i spent far too many hours playing.

Im still only in my first season in Career mode in PC though so time will tell if that matches up. Visually i don't think anything beats PCars at the moment.

m355y

25-06-2015, 07:09

Was playing GRID Autosport quite a lot last night, made me realise what a good game it is, kind of left it to gather dust quite quickly when it came out partly because I thought 'what's the point, this is just Project Cars lite'. Actually it could teach PC a thing or two in terms of AI and the damage model, which blows the claims about manufacturers not wanting a realistic damage model in games out of the water. It has most of the BTCC tracks and a good (if unlicenced) lot of BTCC content and throwing an NGTC Focus around Donington Park in the middle of a battling pack of BTCC cars is brilliant. I went wide and hit the gravel trap at an angle, which threw my car into this fantastic barrel roll and into the barriers a crumpled wreck - brilliant!

RAVEracer

25-06-2015, 07:45

Perfect game? A TOCA 3/V8 Supercars 3 and Project CARS lovechild :D

I think I underestimated GRID 1 at the time, looking back it was a properly awesome game with wicked offline game action. GRID Autosport is magnificent. I'm not sure why I laid off playing it... maybe it was the lack of FFB through the small angled steering or the physics. I actually found the AI to love to crash and barge a lot (hey, I guess it was realistic for the Utes!). And speaking of the V8 Utes, to have that in a game alongside V8 Supercars is pretty darn special. Just needs more Australian tracks! Haha. Oh, and I can't forget the livery maker.

flymar

25-06-2015, 08:01

I was big fan of CMR, but with changing to DiRT I lost much of my interest in this.
Much time spent in TOCA RD and first GRID.
Now pCARS:)